Mumbai: The state has decided to crack the whip on large-scale corruption at border checkposts by issuing a government resolution (GR) which allows computers to randomly select vehicles for inspection under the Motor Vehicle Act."This is an unprecedented order and has diluted powers of some officers, especially RTO inspectors at checkposts," a senior transport department official said on Sunday. Sources said it had led to resentment among some RTO officials at the 16 state border checkposts, considered "plum postings".The officer said some inspectors used to detain trucks randomly for inspection under the Act and allegedly harass drivers for money. This selection will now be done by computers, he said.Checks for vehicle overloading, collection of taxes/fees and scanning of RFID stickers (for vehicle data) will continue to be mandatory for all vehicles crossing the border, especially those entering Maharashtra "Every vehicle will have to go through a weigh bridge and if overloaded, excess goods will be off-loaded before issuing a gate pass," the officer said. RTO officers will also get details of the vehicle by entering the registration number in the Vahan software, and by scanning the stickers issued to transporters.State transport minister Diwakar Raote said, "It is a computerised process and will reduce the inspectors' workload." He said, "We have RTO squads posted across the state and not just at border checkposts. If a vehicle enters Maharashtra, there can be checks en route for documents or any violation of the MV Act, especially those in the interest of road safety." The routine checks could be for vehicle fitness, installation of reflectors/proper headlights, insurance papers, PUC and other documents.The GR said, "Presently, vehicles are checked at the discretion of the officer-on-duty. While it is necessary to keep a check on offences, it is also necessary to ensure smooth flow of traffic through the checkpost, and present arbitrariness in checking. It is also necessary for a system in-built so that there is no undue harassment to transporters, while the objective of law-enforcement is achieved. To achieve these objectives, it has been decided that selection of vehicles for thorough checking of compliances to provisions of the MV Act shall be done by the computerised system randomly at regular intervals."State transport commissioner Praveen Gedam, who will decide the number of vehicles to be checked each day, said, "While checks for overloading will be mandatory, routine checks under the MV Act can be done randomly by computer selection. Vehicles selected for inspection may not be selected again for three months for detailed checking."

Stay updated with all the Mumbai Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.